Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching: A Book about the Way and the Power of the Way

To bear and not to own; to act and not lay claim; to do the work and let it go: for just letting it go is what makes it stay.

And in poetry, beauty is no ornament; it is the meaning. It is the truth.

Heaven will last, earth will endure. How can they last so long? They don’t exist for themselves and so can go on and on. So wise souls leaving self behind move forward, and setting self aside stay centered. Why let the self go? To keep what the soul needs.

To give no trust is to get no trust.

The way you can go isn’t the real way. The name you can say isn’t the real name. Heaven and earth begin in the unnamed: name’s the mother of the ten thousand things. So the unwanting soul sees what’s hidden, and the ever-wanting soul sees only what it wants. Two things, one origin, but different in name, whose identity is mystery. Mystery of all my

degradation of the great way come benevolence

Be broken to be whole. Twist to be straight. Be empty to be full. Wear out to be renewed. Have little and gain much. Have much and get confused. So wise souls hold to the one, and test all things against it. Not showing themselves, they shine forth. Not justifying themselves, they’re self-evident. Not praising themselves, they’re accomplished. Not

To bear and not to own; to act and not lay claim; to do the work and let it go: for just letting it go is what makes it stay.

Can you love people and run things, and do so by not doing?

So the unwanting soul sees what’s hidden, and the ever-wanting soul sees only what it wants.